WATERLOO, Iowa (AFP) - Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) was taking to the ice-bound campaign trail, a day after launching his 2008 White House bid with a vow to lead a generational drive to purge the cynicism from US politics.
The charismatic 45-year-old senator opened his quest for the Democratic nomination in Illinois, invoking anti-slavery icon Abraham Lincoln as he set his sights on a historic goal — to become the first black US president.
Obama demanded an end to the “tragic” war in Iraq and said he felt a call of destiny to transform his nation.
“Let’s be the generation that ends poverty in America,” Obama told a outdoor crowd of thousands in frigid temperatures in the midwestern city of Springfield, former president Lincoln’s hometown.
